Grainger hails resilient residential sales

Grainger plc, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord based in Newcastle, holds its AGM later today, when chief executive Helen Gordon, will update shareholders on strong rental performance, continued investment success and resilient residential sales.

She said:

“The start to our financial year has been a positive one. We have seen good demand for our rental homes and strong rental growth, ahead of last year. We launched our newest private rented sector “PRS” development in mid-January, Argo Apartments in Canning Town, London, and in three weeks we have successfully let nearly forty percent of the 134 apartments at c.3% above our forecast rental levels. Our focus on providing high quality, mid-market homes where there is deep and growing demand, is proving successful as evidenced by the initial lease-up at Argo Apartments.

“Since announcing our FY17 results in November, we have secured an exciting new PRS build to rent development in Sheffield, one of our target cities, that will deliver 237 new homes. Our total secured investment pipeline has increased to c.£690m for 4,300 high-quality rental homes, relative to our £850m target.

“We constantly monitor housing market indicators. Selling prices of our properties are proving resilient and our residential sales performance is in line with last year, although we have seen a small increase in the length of time to complete sales.

Helen Gordon, CEO Designate of Grainger plc (Image: Publicity Pic)

9.12Coreena Ford

Complaints down but interruptions up at utility giant

Utility giant Severn Trent received fewer customer complaints in the last quarter, despite seeing more supply interruptions than usual.

Britain’s biggest listed water company said a 12% year-on-year reduction in water quality complaints coincided with “more supply interruptions than normal”, as Severn Trent revealed it is set to pocket at least £50m in outperformance payments this year.

Performance payments are doled out by water regulator Ofwat to companies that are delivering a good service for customers.

Severn Trent also revealed that while its gender pay gap, which stands at 2.4%, has further to go, it is making “strong progress” in supporting workplace diversity, gender pay equality and social mobility.

Severn Trent, which provides water across the Midlands, also confirmed that it is on track to meet market expectations for the year following positive momentum in its waste division.

Cabana spent £1m on fitting out the restaurant in the Co-op Building in Newgate street, which became the third venture outside of London for the Brazilian barbecue specialists and the seventh within its portfolio when it opened in April 2016.

Ahead of its opening, the firm said it was creating 40 new jobs at the site.

The Newcastle venue has now been removed as an option from Cabana’s list of locations on the company’s official website and bookings are no longer being taken through the Opentable website, which lists it as being permanently closed. The windows of the venue have been blocked out.

Meanwhile, larger-than-life American diner-style chain Rub Smokehouse - which opened to great fanfare in The Gate in October 2016, pledging to create 60 jobs - has also closed.

The firm, which also has restaurants in Birmingham and Nottingham, invested a significant sum into creating a loud and bold bar and restaurant with 150 covers, which became famed for novelty dishes and food challenges.

The closures come at a tough time in the restaurant sector, with a number of restaurant chains closing sites and others restructuring in a bid to reduce costs.

Posh burger restaurant Byron closed its Metrocentre venue last year and has announced another 19 closures around the UK, though its Newcastle base, at the Monument, will remain open.

Jamie’s Italian meanwhile, is closing 12 of its UK sites, though its Newcastle restaurant is also safe and will trade as normal.

The Cabana restaurant in Newcastle

8.59KEY EVENT

North East in line for jobs boost with bid for £2bn Army armoured vehicle contract

German-led consortium Artec is currently leading the race for a £2bn contract to supply the Army with its new vehicle, and it has pledged to build the bulk of them in the UK, potentially leading to the creation of 1,000 jobs.

Artec has signed deals with suppliers including Newcastle’s Pearson Engineering, as well as BAE and Thales UK, which could pave the way for a huge chunk of the work being carried out in the North East.

Pearson Engineering, part of the Reece Group based at the Armstrong Works, is already an award-winning provider of counter-mine and counter-IED equipment for armoured vehicles, with products like its Spark mine roller having been credited with saving countless lives in conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan.

For the deal to come to fruition, Artec, led by Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, would have to see its Boxer eight-wheeled Mechanised Infantry Vehicles (MIVs) chosen by the Army. The consortium is believed to be the front-runner in the race to win the contract.

The Artec Boxer Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV), which it hopes will be chosen by the Army to be its next armoured vehicle (Image: Artec)

8.50Coreena Ford

New rights for workers as Government announces changes to employment laws

Millions of workers are to receive new employment rights from the first day in a job, including the enforcement of holiday and sick pay under “major” Government reforms.

Ministers said the UK will become one of the first countries to tackle the challenges of the changing world of work, pledging to help create better, higher-paying jobs.

In its response to a review headed by Matthew Taylor into issues such as the rights of workers in the so-called gig economy, the Government said its reforms included giving zero hour and agency workers the right to request a more stable contract.

The TUC said the Government had taken a “baby step, when it needed to take a giant leap”.

Ministers said they planned to go further than the review’s proposals by enforcing workers’ holiday and sick pay for the first time, making sure workers had day-one rights such as holiday and sick pay entitlements and a new right to a payslip.

Around 1.2m agency workers will be entitled to a breakdown of who pays them and any costs deducted from their wages, while the Low Pay Commission will be asked to consider higher minimum wage rates for those on zero hour contracts.

Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech at the launch of The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices.

8.45Coreena Ford

Belvoir says Government regulation will push out small agents

Estate agency group Belvoir has said that increased Government regulation is expected see independent firms exit the sector - and the group will be poised to take advantage.

Belvoir, which has a network of 300 franchised estate agents including in Sunderland and Heaton, Newcastle, said a ban on lettings agents’ fees charged to tenants, which will come into force next year, will provide it with an opportunity to hoover up smaller agencies.

Belvoir boss Dorian Gonsalves said: “We anticipate that smaller independent agents will continue to look to exit following increased regulation and the prospect of the ban on tenant fees in 2019, and our acquisitions team is working closely with our entrepreneurial franchisees who are keen to invest to grow their business.”

As part of Theresa May’s charm offensive aimed at younger voters, she pledged last year to bring forward proposals to ban unfair tenant fees, as well as encourage landlords to offer longer tenancies.

The proposals will stop hidden charges and put an end to tenants being hit with costly fees up front, the Government claimed.

It came amid concerns that some letting agents were double charging tenants and property owners for the same service.

“The board is excited by the continued opportunities for consolidation within the sector with the Belvoir Group well placed to take advantage at both a local and national level,” the firm added.

People looking at an Estate Agents window (Image: PA)

8.40Coreena Ford

Redrow hails record results

Housebuilder Redrow directors are toasting to record results after higher selling prices and a jump in completions helped revenues and profits surge.

The group chalked up a 26% rise in half-year pre-tax profits to a record £176m, while revenues climbed by a fifth to £890m over the period.

The stellar performance was underpinned by a 14% rise in legal completions to 2,811, with the average selling price lifting 9% to £330,000.

Order books were also bright, rising 5% to £1.1bn for the six months ending in December.

Redrow chairman Steve Morgan said the company was on track to meet its growth targets thanks to the robust sales market and strong order books.

Redrow, which was founded in North Wales in 1974, boosted its dividend per share by 50% to 9p in response to its “strong earnings performance”.

A Redrow housing development in Kent, as the housebuilder posted another set of strong results (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

8.35Coreena Ford

FTSE 100 making gains

The FTSE 100 Index was up 56.61 points to 7,202.73 shortly after the London market opened, as global markets bounced back from steep falls.

On the second tier, the FTSE 250 Index rose 200.45 points to 19,467.86.

More than five million households are to see their energy bills rise by around £57 a year after the regulator announced it was hiking a price cap aimed at protecting vulnerable and pre-payment customers.

Ofgem said it was increasing the level of its safeguard tariff from April 1, meaning the average dual fuel bill will rise from £1,031 to £1,089 a year due to higher gas and electricity costs.

It comes after the energy watchdog extended its safeguard tariff to almost 1 million vulnerable customers on February 2, taking the total number of households protected by the energy tariff to more than 5 million.

Ofgem, which introduced the safeguard tariff in April last year, insisted that households on the tariff would still be better off despite the price rise.

It said their bills - which used to be among the highest in the market - would still be around £35 lower than the current standard variable tariff paid by direct debit customers.

“That’s why we have extended the prepayment safeguard tariff to almost 1 million vulnerable households, which will help deliver a fairer, smarter and more competitive market for all consumers.

“Even when energy costs rise, people on the worst deals are better off under the safeguard tariff as they can be sure that they are not overpaying for their energy and any rise is justified.”

Ofgem updates the safeguard tariff every six months based on the estimated cost of supplying energy and said the increase follows rises in wholesale gas and electricity costs as well as increased government policy costs.

Energy company Future Energy has ceased trading but not before sorting a complaint out for a reader (Image: Free editorial use)